


The Vagueness of His Alarm

by backontheground



Category: Tokyo Babylon
Genre: Gen, Temporary Blindness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-22
Updated: 2020-10-22
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:42:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27150598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/backontheground/pseuds/backontheground
Summary: "There is something disconcerting about the child, minute shoulders and dark hair, but Subaru doesn’t realize what until they turn around."
Comments: 4
Kudos: 5
Collections: Trick or Treat Exchange 2020





	The Vagueness of His Alarm

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Aeriel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aeriel/gifts).



> A small trick for you! I went with "unsettling encounter with a ghost" and I tried to make it a bit spooky, but I may have missed the mark by a few miles... I hope you will enjoy it anyway!

_“And the vagueness of his alarm added to its terrors; when once you have taken the Impossible into your calculations its possibilities become practically limitless.”_  
― **H.H. Munro,**[ **The Chronicles of Clovis**](https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/922198)

There are shadows in Tokyo, and spirits, and humans, dark, vengeful, bitter, troubled, lost. Subaru is running after one, after them all, with the intent to heal and the implied danger of exorcise, when he makes a wrong move. He is running up and down, going left and right, a murmur of an apology on his lips for those he crashes into, when he is suddenly lost. An old combini looks like any other in the dusty chill right before dusk, the soft glow of a vending machine a useless orientation mark in a city that has thousands and thousands of them. A giggle spreads through the evening quiet, piercing, unsettling. It’s a childish thing for a child spirit, just a bunch of years younger than the child onmyouji who’s following him. Subaru shivers, but he keeps looking until he sees a small body turning a corner. “Wait!” He follows. “I don’t mean to hurt you, wait!” He begs. The child stops just ahead of him. There is something disconcerting about the child, minute shoulders and dark hair, but he doesn’t realize what until they turn around. Something is covering their eyes and the child slowly lifts their hands to take it off. Abruptly he finds himself staring in piercing green eyes, his own green eyes, and he loses consciousness.

* * *

Subaru realizes he is awake again when he feels drops of water hitting his face, fat and freezing on his pale cheeks. It’s rain, a crashing torrent on that parched city. Subaru’s eyelids lift, blink, trying to get rid of the dimness, but there is only darkness enveloping him. He knows that Tokyo is there, just beyond his fingertips, but he cannot see it, he cannot hear it. The rain comes down hard, its rhythmic beat competing with the one of his racing heart. He feels loose, unsettled, can’t keep the image of his own eyes out of his mind. He knows he has to calm down, to breathe, but there is no air for him to take in as he scrambles for his head, frantic fingertips in search of a band, a slip of fabric, _something_. He finds nothing, nothing, and when he looks for a spell he can use, some words that may help him for once instead of helping others, he comes out blank. “Help,” he calls softly, trying to keep his rising panic at bay, but his heartbeat is in his throat and he’s shaking badly– “Help!” –and the panic is mounting, mounting. “HELP!”

“SUBARU!” There are now hands on his shoulders, he knows these hands, knows this voice, “Subaru, you are alright!” Large hands are cradling his cheeks, touching his hair, astoundingly warm in all that coldness. Then, something slips away from his face and Subaru blinks his big green eyes and he can see again. In front of him, Seishirou gazes at him, golden eyes full of concern behind his spectacles, a black band in his hands.


End file.
